Poroshenko comments on Sentsov's hunger strike, urges world to exert pressure on Kremlin

Poroshenko assured Ukraine continues to struggle and makes every effort to facilitate the release of all illegally imprisoned Ukrainians.

president.gov.ua

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has called on the international community to continue to exert pressure on the Kremlin so that Ukrainian political prisoners return home as soon as possible.

"The only condition for ending the hunger strike is the release of all Ukrainian political prisoners who are in the territory of the Russian Federation. 'Together till the end. Slava Ukraini! [Glory to Ukraine]' – political prisoner Oleh Sentsov wrote in a letter from an isolated cell of Russian casemates," Poroshenko wrote on Facebook on May 16.

According to the president, Sentsov went on hunger strike against the actions of the Kremlin, which holds Ukrainians behind bars based on false accusations.

"I call on the international community to continue to exert pressure on the Kremlin so that Ukrainian political prisoners return home as soon as possible, to their families," he said.

Poroshenko assured Ukraine continues to struggle and makes every effort to facilitate the release of all illegally imprisoned Ukrainians, who are held in the territory of occupied Crimea, Donbas and the Russian Federation.

As UNIAN reported earlier, Dmitry Dinze, the lawyer of Ukrainian filmmaker Oleh Sentsov, who is serving a 20-year term in prison in Russia, said his client had gone on hunger strike indefinitely.

Sentsov sent a letter to the chief of the colony to inform about the hunger strike and demand the release of 64 Ukrainian political prisoners as a condition for the end of his protest action.

If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+Enter